Instruments ◊ The Vielle/Viola d'arco
The Vielle,
Fidel, or Medieval Fiddle comes in all shapes, forms, sizes and tuning. It was a
popular choice of instrument, especially within the sphere of secular music, and
many music theorists - including Hieronymus de Moravia (fl. ~1300) and Johannes
Tinctoris (b.~1435– d.~1511) - professed it to be their favourite
instrument.
In the medieval period there were no standardised models for particular instruments. Each instrument was constructed to fit the requirements it was supposed to fulfil, following the fashions of the time and place, and of course influenced by the knowledge and skill of the maker and the materials available to him. The term therefore, refers to any one of a variety of large bowed stringed instruments we find in surviving drawings and sculptures. These specimens usually show a flat and relatively shallow instrument, but can differ from each other by having from 1 up to 6 or even 7 strings, a flat or a curved bridge (implying usage for drones or as a melodic instrument respectively), and by being played ‘on the shoulder’ or ‘on the knee’.
There
is evidence of occasional usage of silk and metal strings,
but most probably the majority of strings were
made entirely
of gut – a readily available material that was also
the most reliable and enduring out of the three choices (metal string
technologies
were still in their infancy).
We use sheep or cow gut
for all of our strings.
At the moment we divide the repertoire into three crude periods, and choose
which Fiddle to use accordingly:
For music originating before 1300 we have two options. We can use our copies of the Fiddles found on the outer decoration of Chartres
Cathedral (construction work started in 1194, but it took a while until they got
to work on the sculptures) – a relatively detailed example of the “8 model” type
of Fiddle, so called for the shape of its body. Our instruments have five
strings each and are tuned c1-g-d-G-C or d1-a1-d-A-D.
The
other possibility is a copy from a mid 12th century German Bible now
in the British museum (MS Harley 2804 fol. 3v), which shows a particularly large
(and therefore potentially low) instrument. It has four strings and is tuned
g-c-C-G. Having the lowest string in the middle rather than as the outer strings
extends the range on which the player can keep it sounding as a drone - an
effect that can be used for accompanying monophony.
For music of the 14th and early 15th centuries we use a
model that combines typical characteristics found in paintings of the period
rather than a copy
of any specific one. This instrument has five strings tuned at a-d-A-D-A1.
For music of the late 15th century and later periods, we use
instruments copied from Lorenzo Costas’ ‘Madonna’ of 1497 (San Giovanni in
Monte, Bologna), instruments that are also referred to as ‘Viola d’Arco’ and
that form a bridge between the Fiddle and the Viola da Gamba families of
instruments. The tenor instruments have five strings and are tuned g-d-G-C-G1,
and the bass instrument has 6 strings and is tuned like a base Viola a Gamba –
d-A-E-C-G1-D1.
Text by Uri Smilansky